Council discusses budget following Measure C failure

Alameda’s City Council held a wide-ranging discussion Tuesday night about how – or if – the city could pay for facilities, vehicles and equipment council members had hoped to fund with money from the Measure C sales tax initiative.

Mayor Marie Gilmore and Councilwoman Lena Tam said they believe that the tax – which garnered the support of roughly half the voters who cast ballots on it, but needed the assent of two-thirds of those voters to pass – would have fared better at the polls if it focused more on core services including public safety, while some residents who attended Tuesday’s meeting said the city should consider trimming city pensions and salaries.

The nearly three-hour hearing included some heated exchanges with Councilman Doug deHaan, who voted to place Measure C on the ballot and then became one of its most outspoken critics, placing half-page ads in a local newspaper that laid out why he believed voters should say no to the 30-year, half cent tax. When asked how he would fund new vehicles, facilities and equipment, DeHaan said he would look into trimming city salaries and outsourcing the city’s firefighting to the Alameda County Fire Department.

But Gilmore and City Manager John Russo said a county takeover – which opponents of Measure C had claimed could save the city $2 million a year, a number they questioned – can’t be pursued without the tax measure because the city doesn’t have the money to bring its vehicles and Fire Station 3 up to the level the county would require.

“By killing Measure C, you killed the opportunity for us to look at that in a meaningful way,” Russo said.